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How will we answer nature's big questions?

There are some big questions out there. Why does the universe exist?
What happens after death? But how do we answer these questions? And
is it necessary?

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    elizabeth muncey 10+

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    Aug 3 2012: How can we distill the essence of these conversations on TED making sure everyone's voice gets heard so the eventual message is crystalised into actual action. These are virtual conversations not real-time conversations or actions.
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    elizabeth muncey 10+

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    Aug 3 2012: Hello Mustafa Aydin. Yes you are right and keep going. For soul read energy. For happiness read community. You are so right in refering back to the ancient texts. There was considerable wisdom in them if we know how to read the metaphors. It is not about good and evil it is about positive and negative. Think Fibonacci's golden string of numbers it is not 0, 1, 2, 3 but 0, 1, 1, 2,,3 that is from nothing good was created then evil, goodness is always sought but people react more strongly to loss than possible gain. Moslems, Jews and Christians all have different interpretations of the same ideas, their different focuses have led to so much positivity for humans but yet they fight amongst them selves. Think of the symbols of the three religions a crescent moon, a star and the sun. We need all three in our lives. We are all from the Abrahamic tradition of thought. We need to combine our knowledge to the benefit of all and ignore those who want to profit from us by supplying guns and war. I have a lot more thoughts along these lines but in my society when you use religious metaphors people stop listening. The answer is in the symbols.
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    Mustafa AYDIN

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    Aug 3 2012: The big exam is going to finish after death for all people and endless life starts. Actually the death is only vanish from the world. Because our solves are not object not matter. Only objects can vanish, not souls. For this reason the soul will go real and endless world. We are many kinds of humans. Doctors, engineers, labours, teachers etc. It means there are too much compartmentalize. Some of us successful, some of us unsuccessul. Some of us in trouble, some of us in good condition. But we are all working for our best for happiness. For World Happiness. The souls never dies. We have to understand this first. Compartmentalize in other endless world..! What are the criterions..! Let us think about this. The world life is an examination for endless world life. Is there any body there who wants to be happy in that life?

  • John Allyn

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    Aug 3 2012: I take people at face value on the life and death issue. Some say they go to heaven or hell, so I assume they do. Some say they decompose and cease to exist, so I assume thy will, Some claim to reincarnate, I have so I assume thy will. Some claim that they will evaporate into the void. I believe them

    Who am I to have the arrogance to tell people what will happen to them at the time of their death.
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    Gabo Moreno 100+

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    Aug 1 2012: .

    Why does the universe exist?
    —Why not?

    What happens after death?
    —Decomposition.
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    Obey No1kinobe 50+

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    Jul 30 2012: Why does the universe exist? I'm not sure that is a meaningful question depending on what you mean.

    I understand the questions why does it look this way and work this way etc. Does there need to be a reason for it to exist in terms of meaning? I don't think so. Almost certainly the universe does not revolve around humans.

    What happens after death? Well we probably have the right answer but are unable to disprove all sorts of wishful thinking. Perhaps we go to Valhalla or reincarnate. Most likely our body and brain decomposes, it is the end of our consciousness, our existence.

    I suggest you go with what fits the available evidence best, that is the least speculative.

    Most likely we die when we die. The end. So lets get on with life before death. If there is something after brain death, we can not tell if it exists and what it is so why worry about it.
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    Stewart Gault 30+

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    Jul 29 2012: Science, it's answered all the past ones so far and will continue to answer every question we have. My only hope is that I'm around when the answers are found.
    And yes it's necessary, as knowledge and pattern seeking primates it's our duty to know more.
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    Debra Smith 200+

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    Jul 29 2012: I think we answer all big questions in the same way - sort of one bite at a time. Those who are studying a phenomenon need to communicate what they have learned especially if it was off the mark so that we keep studying productive areas and dedicating resources to them. Hiding failed experiments or null results is merely a way to ensure someone else tries that path - and what a waste of time, money and talent because if one person tried it - it must make some sense to many.
    So for the big unanswered questions, it will be a matter of priority- if it is important to enough people they will vote with how they commit their lives and time. If we run out of stuff that seems important to us we will move over to see if we can help in areas you think are important. People seem to be like that.

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    Jul 29 2012: When I'm saying how will we answer these questions, I'm saying: is it possible?
    Take the question of the experience of death. The only possible way I think its possible is to learn from near-death experiences (though it isn't exactly death.)

    The only idea which comes to mind is inventing a technology that can speak with the dead, which is getting too supernatural.
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      Colleen Steen 500+

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      Jul 29 2012: Ahan,
      I had a near death experience. There are easier ways to learn about how important life is...here and now:>)
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      Obey No1kinobe 50+

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      Jul 30 2012: abc

      I agree NDE is not the same as being laid to rest, your body decomposed into dust etc.

      We haven't come up with a living or dead spirit detector. I suggest this is most likely because they don't actually exist. Current spiritual realm beliefs can not be differentiated from a fantasy realm of faeries and magic.

      I note most ideas of the afterlife have their roots in our ignorant past. Probably wishful thinking.
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    Colleen Steen 500+

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    Jul 29 2012: Dear Ahan,
    I do not hear nature asking these questions, it is humans asking these questions.

    My biggest question is "how can I be most effective in this earth school HERE and NOW?" The answer I usually come up with, is to be fully present, rather than worrying about the next event:>)
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    Peter Law 30+

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    Jul 29 2012: Hi Ahan.
    The very fact that we are asking these questions should give us a clue to the answer.
    Is it necessary ? Certainly not for our immediate survival, however if there is something after death then these questions become very important.

    :-)

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      Jul 29 2012: What I think about how nessesary answering these questions is that it has to do with our minds. When we had an ape's mind, we did whatever a animal would do, gather food, mark territory etc. But our brains evolved one thing that changed everything: Curiousity.

      Why do we have to be curious? Why don't we behave like hairless apes?
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        Peter Law 30+

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        Jul 29 2012: Hi Ahan.
        Because we are not hairless apes. We are the children of the creator of the universe. our minds reach out beyond necessity towards infinity.

        :-)
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        Stewart Gault 30+

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        Jul 29 2012: An idea I've pondered and hope is true is this, imagine if personality traits could be linked to mutations and that our level of curiosity was just another evolutionary step. Beyond the animal curiosity, we see them all the time inspecting things we give them etc etc but our curiosity is much more, we left Africa, we wandered the world and populated it and then forgot about each other only to rediscover eahc other in the past few hundred years.
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          Colleen Steen 500+

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          Jul 29 2012: Stewart,
          I believe that curiosity has definitely contributed to evolution (or has evolution contributed to curiosity?), and is another step along the evolutionary path. I believe that is one of the major motivating factors in moving forward with research, study, pondering, contemplating, exploring etc. That is why I like to be curious about EVERYTHING:>)
          I would not deny myself an opportunity:>)
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        Obey No1kinobe 50+

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        Jul 30 2012: We behave very much like hairless apes.
        Eat, crap, rut, kill, compete, cooperate, use tools, fear death and miss lost ones, get depressed, fight but we have a more developed brain.
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      Obey No1kinobe 50+

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      Jul 30 2012: Seems natural once we got self aware and smart enough we would wonder about life the universe and everything.

      Some of our earlier guesses or those cultural stories are probably no more than myths.
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